Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and Initialized Capital, comes to Ad Age Next

The innovator and investor joins the powerful lineup assembling on Nov. 13 and 14 in New York

Published on August 24, 2018.

The list of founders, innovators, marketing leaders and visionaries at Ad Age Next is adding one more: Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of Reddit and Initialized Capital, the seed-stage venture fund with over $230 million under management.

Ohanian will discuss how his team seeks, evaluates and creates innovation at Initialized Capital, whose investment portfolio includes Instacart, Coinbase, Patreon and Cruise. This summer the company led a round of funding for AdQuick, which Ohanian, now a board member, describes as the software bridge between out-of-home and digital advertising. There will be a lot to talk about.

He's just the latest addition to Next, which takes place on Nov. 13 and 14 in New York. As a whole, the program will give attendees a look at the near future across the spectrum of innovation.

Day One features an afternoon of stimulating keynotes and conversations, culminating in Next Titans, a new live experience about six startups seeking funding and marketing support. They will pitch live to former Mondelēz chief media and e-commerce officer Bonin Bough, BlueRun Ventures General Partner Cheryl Cheng, former GE chief marketing officer Beth Comstock, MediaLink Chariman and CEO Michael Kassan and VaynerX chairman Gary Vaynerchuk.

Day Two will take a full day to map the Next Blockbusters, from esports to mobility tech. Midday tracks will let attendees drill down on areas that particularly matter to them. And there will be networking.

The Next lineup includes:

Sophia Amoruso, CEO and founder at Girlboss

on connections as the future of currency

Sharmeen Browarek, senior director of viewer engagement at Twitch

on using machine learning to fight bias in gaming

Jess Carbino, Bumble's sociologist

on the next workforce

Daniel Cherry, CMO at Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues

on gaming's next play IRL

David Dancer, CMO at MedMen

on the cannabis boom to come

Kass Dawson, global head of marketing at Softbank Robotics

with the Pepper robot, on the future of human-robot interactions

Amy Emmerich, chief content officer at Refinery29

on content's next mission

Tony Magee, founder of Lagunitas

on cannabis in Lagunitas drinks and the culture

Jason Mars, CEO and co-founder at Clinc

on the rise of conversational AI

Claudia Mata, co-founder of Vertly

on cannabis in beauty

Megan Maloney, investor at General Catalyst

on the real future for blockchain

Pras Michél, founder of Blacture

on the future of media and tech for black culture

Glenn Minerley, head of esports at Momentum Worldwide

on brands' role in the entertainment culture ahead

Natalia Oberti Noguera, CEO and founder of Pipeline Angels

on changing the "white bro" culture of Silicon Valley

Alexis Ohanian, general partner at Initialized Capital

on finding, evaluating and driving innovation

Delane Parnell, CEO and co-founder at PlayVS high school esports league

on the future of competitive gaming

Bozoma ("Boz") Saint John, CMO at Endeavor

on Next Reinvention: How people and businesses across media and entertainment can stay head of disruption—or even drive it.